Silver Lining in Berlin

Tough tough loss here in Berlin in the finals. Just couldn't grab it in the second or third games. Overall a solid tourney. At times we played great and at times we played well enough to win.

In pool play we beat Germany #5, Spain #1, and Italy #1. We played well in pool play. Against Germany it really wasn't in doubt as we won 21-15, 21-9. Young team that will be good in the future but was a bit overwhelmed playing in the Main Draw. Against Spain we controlled the first game and won 21-18. In the second we were down 14-17. I sided out and hit a jump serve Ace. I banged the next Jump serve and got a bad pass/set and they made an error. I missed the next serve but followed that with a sideout. Then Phil hit a good jumper forcing a bad pass okay set but we scored the point. Then Phil hit two aces in a row to finish it out 21-18. vs. Italy we played very well in cold rain on Friday and won 21-13, 21-14. We played well the whole time and increased our lead as we went.

We got a bye in the first round as we won our pool. We played the winner of Franco/Cunha from Brasil and Laciga/Schnider from Switzerland. Switzerland won so we played them Saturday morning. They started out well with their jump serves. They both blast them and they don't care who they serve. Both Phil and I probably gave up 3 aces or shanks each. Fortunately, we more than matched them with aces. I would say that Phil had about 6 and I had about 4. We won 16 and 9 I think.

In the next match we played the team that beat Matt and Casey. The German team of Reckerman and Urbatzka is a good team. We started out serving Urbatzka and he sided out like a god. They were serving me really tough float serves and I was spraying them to kingdom come. We lost 21-16 in the first. I started off the same way in the second game and we were down 3-8. I pulled it together and Phil played really well. We also started serving Reckerman and got a lot more points by serving him. I think the second game was 21-18. In the 3rd we started off up 3-0 and never looked back. I think they only scored one point on a dribble ace. Final score was 9 or 10.

In the semis we played Spain #1 again. They beat a bunch of very good teams to get to this point. They beat Marcio and Fabio from Brasil, then Jake and Rosy, and then Germany #2, Klemperer/Koreng. They started off playing great and really never played poorly in the entire match. We were serving the right side guy and he was siding out very very well. They won the first game by a couple of points. In the second game we started serving them both about equally. Phil and I picked up our sideout game and matched them back and forth. We won that game. In the third we were actually down 11-8. I sided out to make it 11-9. Then Phil touched a high line shot that I ran down and he put it away. I think he stuffed the right side guy on the next play to tie it up at 11 all. They sided out and then I sided back out to make it 12 all. Phil then touched another high line shot which I ran down and he put away to put us up 13-12. Then we traded sideouts. Phil ended it on the next play with a good serve that the guy passed perfectly but had to go to the sand to get. His partner gave him a slightly tight set and Phil stuffed him for the 15-13 victory.

In the finals it was a great battle that unfortunately we came out on the losing end. I actually had a lot of fun that game. The weather was nice for the finals but then started dumping during the medal ceremony. In the first game it was neck and neck. Both teams had game point chances. The last point I scooped Ricardo's cut shot and put a line shot down for 27-25. In the second game we came back after being down 12-9 at the break. We had some pretty good point chances in the end but were unable to convert and they sided out to make it 21-19. In the third game it was back and forth. We went up 11-10 and they sided out. Then Ricardo hit a perfect jump serve down the middle. Phil had been taking middle but thought I was going to take it. I thought the ball was out and called out. Ticked the line and they were up 12-11. The next play they served me. Phils set was a bit tight but I played it off Ricardo and Phil made an easy cover. Emmanuel made a great dig and it came back over the net. Phil took it but was stuffed by Ricardo for them to go up 13-11. I sided out on the next play. Ricardo sided out with a deep angle bang. Then I sided out again to make it 14-13 them. The next play Emmanuel sided out with a chop angle cut shot thing under Phil's block and that was match.